A Tragic Love, A Tragic Break
by eerriinn91
Summary: After the shooting in season 3, Brooke tenses about Lucas and Peyton's relationship and gets jealous. Will things get carried away? Everything is not as it seems. Will everyone be okay, or will someone get hurt more than they already have? LP NH BL begini
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was a beautiful day, bright and sunny. Lucas and brooke were walking on the quad. 'So boyfriend, I didn't see you this weekend, where were ya?" Lucas chuckled at Brooke's straightforwardness, 'i was helping my mom get ready for her and Keith's wedding.' Brooke smiled, "Aw baby, what a great son!" Lucas laughed as Brooke's dimples showed through. 'I have gym first, so I'll see you at lunch." He leaned down and kissed the top of her head and she waved. Brooke saw Peyton in the distance and shouted, "Hey P. Sawyer!' Peyton turned around and smiled as her best friend came skipping over. "Hey B. Davis, you ready for History?" Brooke rolled her eyes, "Am I ever ready for school?" They laughed as they walked into the school with linked arms. They were about to walk through the glass doors when Brooke saw Jimmy Edwards holding a gun towards them. 'Peyton!' Brooked dropped to the floor for cover. She tried to pull Peyton down with her as she heard two gunshots.

The halls were buzzing. People were running and screaming everywhere. Along the way Bevin lifted Brooke up off the floor and pulled her along to get outside. Brooke saw Lucas and ran into his arms. 'Brooke, what's going on!?" Brooke was flustered but did her best to respond, "There was a gun and me and Peyton, and she's still in there, she..she..." Lucas was getting impatient, "She what Brooke!?" Brooke whimpered, 'The glass it broke, and she may have been shot." Lucas let go of Brooke's arms and started to run back into the school. "Lucas! Lucas!" But he was too far gone.

Lucas slowly crept throughout the school to not make any noise. He bumped into Nathan, "Man what are you doing in here?!" Lucas whispered, "Peyton's in here somewhere!" Nathan smiled, he knew the bond that Lucas and Peyton had, then he frowned, 'So is Haley." Lucas got more worried as he began to back away to go searching when he heard Nathan speak up, "You know Lucas, Most heroes are dead." Lucas nodded, 'Be careful Nate."

Lucas looked down and found blood on the floor. He slowly followed the drops of blood to the library. Carrying the metal baseball bat he took from gym class, he slowly opened the library doors. He walked through the aisles, and he began to hear heavy breathing and whimpers. He got the bat ready until he saw the curly blond head and heard her small whisper, "Please don't, it hurts!" Lucas dropped the bat at the sight of her. He knelt next to her and asked, 'What hurts?' Peyton uncovered her hands from her arm and leg. Her hands covered in blood as the open wounds began gushing. Lucas gasped and he took her hands in his. They were freezing and he knew he needed to stop the blood. He ripped off the sleeve of his shirt as he wrapped her arm and leg tightly. They were silent for a while until Peyton whispered, "It was your friend Luke, Jimmy, he didn't look mean or angry though. he just looked scared." Lucas was shocked., but Peyton kept talking. 'They're all going to try and make something out of this. Find a reason for it. but they won't. because they weren't in here. They weren't there, and they won't understand it. Although they'll tell you they know how your feeling.' Lucas nodded and Peyton fell onto his shoulder, 'I'm tired Luke are you tired?" Lucas looked over at Peyton and she was ghostly white. "Yeah, I'm tired too, but you can't go to sleep Peyt, you got to stay awake. How about you tell me about your favorite song?' Peyton smiled and nodded, 'My favorite song would have to be 23 by Jimmy Eat World...' As Peyton continued whispering as Lucas listened. When her voice faded she began to whisper a little louder, "Why are you still here Luke? I mean why did you even come in the first place?" Lucas was confused. "Peyt, what do you mean?" Peyton raised herself off of Lucas, "If I tell you, I love you right now, Will you hold it against me, because I've lost a lot of blood?" Lucas looked at her and smiled. "Come here,' Lucas whispered. Peyton leaned forward and he kissed her slightly on the lips. It was filled with emotion and passion. 'Lucas, you need to go. Brooke needs you. Haley and nathan need you. Your mom needs you.' He smiled. 'You need me right now." Peyton closed her eyes, "They don't need me and I won't be responsible for them losing you. Losing you, it hurts to much and they don't deserve that pain." Peyton's eyes watered from the emotion and pain. Lucas looked at how vulnerable she was and realized just how much he hurt her. "Go!" She raised her voice slightly. Lucas began to get up. She wouldn't look at him, it hurt to much. He began to walk away. He was almost out of the school when he looked down and saw traces of her blood on the floor. He continued walking until he saw her blood on his hands and came to a short stop. He turned around and began running back to the library when he saw her laying lifeless, on the cold ground. He whimpered, 'Peyton!?'


	2. Chapter 2

He ran over to Peyton and fell to her side. He felt her neck in an attempt to find a pulse, but there was no beat.. He decided quickly that he needed to get her out of there.. He lifted her from underneath her knees and head. He slowly walked through the quiet, abandoned hallways. He thought the coast was clear but he heard a shot behind him. He julted his head and turned around to come face to face, with none other than Jimmy Edwards. ཁDon't Moveཀཁ He heard before being held at gunpoint. ཁJimmy...ཁ Lucas tried, but it was no use.. ཁPut her downཀཁ Lucas cried as he looked down at the girl he loved, 'Bu- but she's going to dieཀཁ Jimmy's face softened but quickly turned back to anger and fear as he fired again. Lucas tried to turn around but the bullet grazed Peyton's side. Jimmy dropped the gun as Lucas ran out. Medical experts removed Peyton from his arms as the FBI check Lucas for any lethal weapons.

Brooke ran to Lucas, ཁWhat happened Lucas? Tell me what happenedཀ Why did you leave meཀ I was all aloneཀཁ Lucas looked at her with disgust, ཁAre you serious? Your best friend is laygin in the library dying and all you can ttink about is how you were aloneཀཁ Brooke looked down at her feet, ཁDying?' Lucas nodded sadly s he began to go to his car to follow the ambulance carrying Peyton, back to the hospital.

Brooke followed him slowly as she thought about Peyton and how she could be dead right now. 'Lucas?' He turned his head toward her as he began to rev up the engine. ཁWhat was she like?ཁ Lucas looked down, ཁDo you know how much I hurt her? How much we hurt her? She was so sad, so lonely.ཁ Brooke quickly looked up, ཁWe hurt her? What do you mean Lucas?ཁ Lucas shook his head, ཁNevermind, your too wrapped up in your own head, you wouldn't understand. Let's just goཁ Brooke looked out the window as Lucas sped to the hospital.

Back in the school, Jimmy re-entered the tutor center where Nathan, Haley, Rachel, Mouth, Marcus, Skillz, and Abby. ཁNathan, what did I say about crossing the lineཀ?ཁ Nathan looked up surprised and walked backwards over the taped down line. ཁI-I'm sorry.ཁ He replied. Jimmy snarled, ཁOoh the big bad boy's scared are we?ཁ Nathn looked own, ཁYeah actually I am.ཁ Jimmy lifted the gun on Haley, ཁAnd you? Why haven't you said anything.ཁ Nathan stepped in. ཁHey, don't point the gun at herཀཁ Jimmy laughed,., ཁAlright.ཁ He aimed the gun at Nathan. Skillz stood up. ཁJimmy man, what the hell happened to you, dawg? Jimmy yelled, ཁYou all happened to meཀཁ Haley whispered, ཁWhat do you mean?ཁ Jimmy laughed and shook his head as he lowered the the gun. ཁGoing into school and nobody noticing if your even there. But you know what, not coming to school and when you come back, no one notices either, so it doesn't even matter anymore. Nothing does.ཀཁ Jimmy turned the gun on himself, ཁJIMMY NOཀཁ Keith yelled from the now open door. ཁWhat do you care?ཁ Keith nodded, 'I do care, and so does everyone else.ཁ Jimmy shook his head, ཁNo you don'tཀ Stop lyingཀ As Keith waked closer to Jimmy the other students in the classroom ran out quickly, ཁYou don't want to do this Jim. Things get better.ཁ Jimmy responded, 'No they don't how would you knowཀཁ Keith smiled, ཁI had a plan. I brought the gun, but I didn't fire. I couldn't do it. And I know things get better, because you soon realize the love others have for you.ཁ Jimmy denied Keiths attempts and turned the gun to face himself once again, ཁJimmy please.ཁ The shot was fired and Haley's skin jumped as she heard it. She turned around quickly but kept walking praying it wasn't Keith.

As the other kids left the school Karen ran up to Haley and Nathan and hugged them. ཁOh thank goodness you're okayཀ Nathanཀ Godཀཁ Nathan hugged Karen back and asked, ཁIs Lucas okay?ཁ Karen looked down, ཁHe's on the way to the hospital.ཁ Haley screamed, ཁWhat? Why? Is he okay?' Karen nodded, ཁHe is, it's Peyton. She was shot, three times. She left here without a pulse.ཁ Haley fell to the ground in tears, ཁBut, but Peyton. Noཀཁ Nathan knelt down next to her, ཁC'mon Hales, let's head to the hospital, Peyton's a fighter, she can get through this.ཁ Karen said lowly, ཁDo you guys need a ride?ཁ Nathan answered for them both, ཁThat would be great, Thanksཁ

Meanwhile at the hospital Brooke kept replaying Lucas' words 'He hurt her, we hurt her' what did that meanཀ Lucas came up to Broke, ཁI brought you coffee.ཁ Brooked looked up, ཁThanks. Lucas?ཁ He turned to her, ཁhmm?ཁ She replied slowly, ཁDo you love me?ཁ Lucas' forehead crinkled in thought, ཁWhy are you asking me that Brooke?ཁ Brooke replied, ཁBecause you ran into that school without a second thought for Peyton, but would you do for me?ཁ He though intensely, ཁBrooke why do you need to be asking questions about our relationship a She cried alightly, ཁI care about youཀཁ Lucas scoffed, ཁAnd what about the girl laying on a hospital bed in there, did you forget about her? Brooke shook her head, ཁNo but obviously you haven't either.ཁ Lucas turned to her with anger on his face, ཁAnd you expect me to do thatཀ Just pretend that her dying means nothingཀ How could you say thatཀ I thought you guys were best friendsཀཁ Brooke smiled, ཁWe are best friendsཀ I am worried, but I'm more worried about losing you.ཁ Lucas said taken a back, ཁYou might want to watch what you say or you might lose me. Take a look around you Brooke. We're in a hospital, The world doesn't revolve around you.ཁ


	3. Chapter 3

Lucas was infuriated with Brooke and the situation he was in. He decided he needed to talk to Haley to try and make him feel...safe. He ran around the hospital until he found his young brunette friend laid out on the floor in a fit of sobs. He ran over the her, "Hales, are you okay?" Haley looked up with him as her bottom lip quivered, "She's- she's my best friend Luke. Why didn't I help herཀ She shouldn't be in there Lucas. It's not fairཀ I can't lose her. I love her so much! We've been best friends for so long, this can't be the end." Lucas looked at her with pain in his eyes, "I know Hales," He began to cry slightly, "I know, I'm sorry I didn't get her out of there sooner, I should have but I don't know what to do without her Haley." They held onto each other as they shook with their tears. Nathan looked on at his brother and wife and tears fell down his face. Brooke watched as well and went up to Nathan, "Can you believe it?" He was taken out of his thoughts and looked at Brooke, "What?" She smiled slightly, "This all of it, the shooting, Peyton, me and Lucas." Nathan shook his head, "You and Lucas? Brooke what are you talking about?" She looked down. "All he cares about is if Peyton's ok, he doesn't want to work on our relationship." Nathan looked at her angrily, "You're serious right now? You are a pathetic girl Brooke." Nathan walked away and Brooke sank to the floor in tears. Why was everyone angry with her? All she wanted was a solid relationship and to be happy. But she couldn't. Not with her boyfriend mad at her and her friend in the hospital.

Lucas finally spoke, "Hales, I think I'm going to go see her." She nodded as they both got up and he walked to Peyton's room. He looked in at the peaceful, pale, blond girl. He sat in the chair beside Peyton and grabbed her cold hand. He rubbed his thumb back and forth as he spoke softly, "Peyton, you need to come back to us. I can't lose you. None of us can. Haley's a mess. I'm a mess. I'm so sorry Peyton. I'm so terribly sorry, I didn't get you out of there sooner. I- I lov... I need to go." Lucas rushed out of the hospital room as he bursted out with tears and fell to the floor. He couldn't handle this. Did he really almost just tell Peyton he loved her? Did he love her? Why is it so hard? Lucas was confused as Brooke came up behind him wanting to talk. ཁLucas, what's the matter baby?ཁ H looked up at her,, shook his head and looked back down. "Do you want to talk?" He responded, "No. Just go." She didn't understand, "I'm staying here with you." Lucas raised his voice but trembled, "I'm serious Brooke, go." She stood up and said, "Your going to be sorry Lucas Scott." Normally Lucas would sit there and try to analyze what Brooke was trying to get at, but his thoughts were consumed with Peyton and Jimmy Edwards and the horrific day they were just trying to make through.

Haley walked up alongside Lucas and whispered, "How did it go? I'm really scared to go in there Luke." He reassured her, "Don't be scared, she needs you." Haley knew the connection Lucas and Peyton had and she didn't agree with Brooke and Lucas' relationship, "Just so you know," she leaned up close to his ear, "She needs you too" Lucas smiled and opened the door for Haley to go in and see her best friend. Haley crept into the room slowly and curled up beside Peyton in the bed. "P, I miss you. Can't you come back now? I mean you've been sleeping for a long time now and I really need my best friend back" [she began crying and held tightly onto Peyton "Lucas needs you too, you know? I know how you feel about him Peyton, it's inevitable. I don't think your the only one who feels it either. If you don't come back for me, or for you come back for him. But mostly for you and me [giggles I love you Chicken [Haley had adapted that nickname along with Peyton's father and I need you to come back soon." Haley kissed Peyton's forehead and laid next to her until Nathan came and got her because he couldn't find Lucas.

"What do you mean you can't find him?" She yelled. "He's really upset what if he got into a car accident or somethingཀ?" Nathan was baffled, "I don't know Haley. I went to go sit with him but when I got there he wasn'tཀ" Haley left and ran outside screaming Lucas' name. "Luke. Lucasཀ Lucas Eugene Scottཀ" She yelled but it was no use. She was so worn out and exhausted, she needed sleep and she knew she was not going to get any soon.

Back inside Nathan was looking around the hospital when he felt a tap on his shoulder, "Hey man what's up?" Nathan was shocked, "Lucas? Where the hell have you beenཀ" Lucas shrugged his shoulders, "Um, getting us coffee?" Nathan laughed as he dug his hand into his pocket. "I gotta call Haley, she was going crazy about you not being here. She was worried." Lucas smiled, "She's always worried." Lucas looked down at the floor when he heard Nathan speak, "You know, she loves you Luke." Lucas was confused, "What are you talking about? Who loves me?"


	4. Chapter 4

Nathan looked at Lucas, ཁyou mean you don't know who I'm talking about?ཁ Lucas looked at him dumbfounded, "Uh, no?" Nathan chuckled, "you'll know soon enough older brother. You'll know soon enough." Lucas still didn't get it and Nathan walked off leaving Lucas thinking.

Lucas stayed at the hospital, while Nathan and Haley decided they'd go home to get some rest. Haley was exhausted but before she went home she needed to talk to Brooke. "Nate, could you drop me at Brooke's?" Nathan looked shocked, "Brooke's?" Haley responded, "Yeah I need to talk to her." He sighed, "Alright." When they got there Haley gulped, "Pick me up in a half hour?" Nathan nodded. He stayed and watched Haley walk up the brick walkway. He rolled down the window, "Hey Hales, don't get carried away." She nodded as she walked up to Brooke's doorstep. Haley banged hard on the door angrily. Brooke finally answered, "Haley? What are you doing here?" Haley let herself into the house, "Who do you think you areཀ?" Brooke fired back, "Excuse me?" Haley was frustrated, "Brooke, do you even know what's going onཀ?" Brooke was upset, "What do you think I am stupid?" Haley laughed, "Maybe, your friend is in the hospital and you still can't stop thinking about yourselfཀ" Brooke tried to interrupt but Haley continued, "You know, Peyton's my best friend and I've never once seen her speak highly of a lot of people, but she does Brooke, about you. I never agreed with your friendship, no offense, but she tried and tried to prove me wrong. But your continuously show me that I'm right and you do by putting your boyfriend before her." Brooke had tears in her eyes. "Haley, I'm sorry but it's so hard when he cares about her so much he'd run into a dangerous building and risk his life for her. It makes me feel like he doesn't even love me, his girlfriendཀ." Haley was shocked, "There you go again. Do you even know anything about Lucas?" Brooke gulped, "Well, then I'll tell you. Lucas has loved Peyton since seventh grade. He didn't even know herཀ He used to tell me that she looked so sad, and that he could make her happy if he had the chance. Me and Peyton would go to the mall together or just hang out at her house and listen to music and on my way home, I'd go back to Lucas'. He'd ask me about her every time. [she scoffed You know, it's funny. He let her go for you. Completely cut her out for you and you didn't even realizeཀ He deserves better, someone like Peyton." Brooke was infuriated, "You don't know me Haley, you know nothing about me. And you obviously don't know Peyton either." Haley laughed, "You mean my best friend for 10 years I don't know. She's a better person than you'll ever be Brooke, unless you change." "Oh you mean someone who kisses other people's boyfriendsཀ?" Haley got extremely angry and bounced out of character, "She let you have himཀ She gave him to youཀ She was in love with him but when you told her how much you liked him she let go of him. FOR YOUཀ She let you have him, because she loves you although I don't know why." There was a honk, "That's my ride." Haley gathered her things and left Brooke flabbergasted.

Brooke was so angry, she wiped the tears from her eyes and got in her car. She put her foot on the pedal and sped to the hospital. She ran all the way up to Peyton's ICU room and found Lucas sitting by Peyton's side holding her hand and crying. "Come on Lucas, we're goingཀ" Lucas looked up at her confused and saw the fury in her eyes. She looked at him angrily and Lucas knew this wasn't the place to discuss this. He squeezed Peyton's hand and left her room. Brooke whispered through her teeth to Peyton. "You better wish you don't wake up" and she stormed out of the room. When Lucas saw Brooke some out he questioned her, "What the hell Brooke?" But she only through questions right back at him, "You've been here the whole time?" He only nodded, "Unbelievableཀ" she spoke. "What's the matter with you Brooke?" She looked up from the floor, "You, her [she pointed to Peyton's room, Haley. All of youཀ" Lucas was confused, "How is she bothering you, she hasn't even woken up and since when do you and Haley talk?" Lucas was thoroughly confused. Brooke disregarded him, "That's it Lucas, you need to chooseཀ" Lucas questioned, "What do you mean" Brooke laughed, "Come on Lucas, me or her? You gotta choose." "You're serious?" She nodded, "As a heart attack." He shook his head, "You can't be making me choose Brooke." She laughed, "Oh, I am." He looked down, "I'm sorry Brooke I can't do that." She yelled, "It's always her isn't itཀ Well?" Lucas shook his head, "it doesn't have to be, but your making it that way and you always have." He turned on his feet and on his way back to Peyton's room he spoke again, "She needs me now, more than ever." and he continued into Peyton's room. Brooke left frustrated, angry and upset. Lucas had fallen asleep with his hands laced with Peyton's shortly after Brooke had left. He woke up slightly but not all of the way and saw the time on the clock. He was surprised he hadn't left the hospital in so long and that was his first sleep he had gotten in a while, and it wasn't even a full night's worth. He was going to drift off again but then he heard a low whisper, "Lucas?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5ཀ

He looked up to see blond curls moving. "Peyton?" She nodded and fluttered her eyes open. He grabbed her hand tighter and squeezed it, "I'm so happy you're okayཀ" He hugged her tightly, "Uh, Lukeཀ" she whispered because she didn't have her voice back yet, "I kind of need to breathe." They both laughed as Lucas released his tight grip. "I didn't think you'd wake upཀ" She nodded with tears in her eyes, "Lucas?" He looked at her and saw her teary green eyes, "Peyt? Are you okay?" She loved when he called her Peyt and she smiled, "I'm okay, I'm glad to see you." Lucas grinned widely, "And you don't know happy I am to see those eyes of yoursཀ" She laughed, "Luke, what time is it?" He takes out his cell phone and replies, "It's four o'clock... in the morning." Peyton was shocked, "Wow, it's late. Why are you still hereཀ?" Lucas smiled, "I didn't want you to be alone." Peyton showed her genuine smile that Lucas loved and they enjoyed the silence between them. They didn't need words. But every time their eyes met, they felt electricity shoot through them. Doctors and nurses came in and out all night to check up on Peyton and her condition. It looked like she was going to be okay. She needed to take painkillers and use crutches for 3 weeks but everything was looking up for now.

The next morning at 8am Lucas called everyone– Haley, Nathan and Karen, but not Brooke. Haley rushed to the hospital and into Peyton's room. She jumped on Peyton and almost suffocated her best friend. "I thought you were leaving meཀ I would've killed youཀ" Peyton laughed as they chatted just the three of them. "Lucasཀ Why didn't you call me last nightཀ? I would've been here in a secondཀ" Lucas laughed, "That' the problem I knew you would've so I decided to wait until the morning because you have been at the hospital non stop and you need to get some sleep . The doctors were in and out all night anyway, taking care of our girl over here." Peyton smiled at what a good friend Lucas was– to her and to Haley. They all talked when Nathan and Karen came in. Everyone was all smiles since Peyton had woken up. There was a silence when Peyton asked the dreaded question, "Where's Brooke?" Nobody spoke and they all looked nervous and Peyton got frustrated, "Where is she? Is she okay? Did she get shot? Is she alright god damnit tell meཀ" Peyton didn't mean to sound angry but she was just worried about Brooke. Lucas decided it would be a good idea if he would tell her about Brooke. He was dreading this conversation as he saw the impatient look on her face and how worried she was about Brooke, when Brooke didn't even give that much thought to Peyton being hurt. Just the thought of that made Lucas sick to his stomach. "Peyton, I'm really sorry but..." Before he could finish Brooke barged into the room and spoke for herself, "Oh look whose awakeཀ" she slurred, "I told you she'd wake up Luke." She held onto the door frame for support. "Brooke are you drunk? It's only 10am." Peyton was the first to ask. Brooke sneered, "Like you're one to talk." Peyton looked confused, "Guys, can I have a minute alone with Brooke?" Lucas nodded and they all left to go to the cafeteria for coffee. " So are you going to tell me what's going on Brooke?" Peyton asked. Brooke rolled her eyes, "You wouldn't know." Peyton closed her eyes, "Try me." Brooke slurred, "He chose you. He chose, I made him and he chose youཀ Are you happy now? Peyton was extremely confused, "Who? What are you talking about Brooke?" She looked down, "Lucas." Peyton was even more confused, " Why did he even need to choose Brooke? Why did you ask him to do that?" Brooke looked guiltily at Peyton, "Because your always his first priority. He ran back into the school, for you. And he saved you. I should be happy, but I'm not he chose you." Peyton was infuriated, "How dare you? I thought you were my friend. All you can think about is yourself. Yes he saved me, and unlike you I'm thankful for that. You can go now." Brooke looked down sadly and began to leave, "Oh and Brooke, it's a little early for alcohol." Brooke stumbled out the door and brushed past Lucas. Haley shrugged it off and began to walk into Peyton's room and Lucas got her attention, "Haley tell Peyton I'll be right back." He ran after Brooke, "Wait a minute Brookeཀ" She was fumbling with the keys of her car but Lucas took them from her, "I'll drive." Brooke got angry, "No, go back to your precious Peyton." Lucas was frustrated, "What the hell is our problem Brookeཀ?" She looked up at him, "You chose her. Why? What's so good about her?" Lucas didn't answer as he thought about Peyton. He bouncy, blonde curls. And her intense green eyes. Her lips, although she didn't smile much when she did, it was the most genuine smile he's ever seen. He thought about the feeling he felt when he thought he was going to lose her. He was shaken from his thoughts when Brooke yelled, "Lucasཀ" Lucas replied quietly, "You asked me to choose and you keep pushing me awayཀ." Brooke sobbed, "I'm not pushing you awayཀ I'm holding on for dear life." Lucas was defeated, "Let me drive." Brooke screamed, "No, I'm driving." Lucas didn't know what to do so he put the keys in his back pocket, "If I can't drive I guess your walking." Brooke huffed and stumbled away.


End file.
